Work to improve elections is making inroads

Feb. 25, 2013

The 2012 election cycle was the most successful in Colorado history. Through proactive management and innovative solutions, Colorado saw a jump in voter participation, had better election integrity than ever before and saw far fewer Election Day problems.

Recently the Secretary of State’s office published an official report on the 2012 election titled “A Colorado Success Story.” It details achievements that all Coloradans can be proud of.

First, voter turnout grew to record levels in Colorado, even as other states witnessed real decline. Colorado’s turnout increased almost 2 percent compared with the 2008 election, while turnout nationwide plummeted almost 7 percent. Even other hotly contested battleground states saw a drop in turnout.

This increased turnout followed successful voter registration efforts that pushed registered voters to an all-time high in Colorado. My office sent postcards to nearly 750,000 unregistered residents, and we ran television, radio, newspaper and Internet ads encouraging registration. This campaign helped increase our registration numbers by more than 440,000 people — a 13.7 percent increase.

As a former Army officer who served overseas during an election, I was particularly proud that our military and overseas turnout skyrocketed 65 percent compared with 2008 levels.

The overall result? In 2012, Colorado was top three among all states in turnout by eligible voters.

Our election integrity is at an all-time high. Through our online registration system, nearly 250,000 Coloradans corrected their registration information, meaning more accurate voting rolls than ever before. Going forward, Colorado is now comparing its voter rolls with nearly two dozen other states for dual registrations.

But some now want to drastically change how we conduct our elections. One proposed change is Election Day registration, often called same-day registration. Election day registration allows people to vote on the same day they register. Unfortunately, this opens the door to fraud and error. And it creates huge problems for administering elections.

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Indeed, experience in other states shows that Election Day registration is a real problem.

In Wisconsin during the 2004 presidential election, the Milwaukee Police Department verified that claims of thousands “of more ballots cast than voters recorded were found to be true.” And a 68-page police report found “that the one thing that could eliminate a large percentage of fraud or the appearance of fraudulent voting in any given election is the elimination of the on-site or same-day voter registration system.”

In Minnesota, also a same-day registration state, a local watchdog group identified 113 convictions of felons voting in the state’s 2008 election. It concluded, “While some ineligible felon voters registered in advance of the election and should have been flagged for challenge, the overwhelming majority who evaded detection used Election Day registration, which currently has no mechanism to detect or prevent ineligible voters.”

And Colorado does not need same-day voter registration. Our voter turnout is among the best in the nation.

As I meet with residents around the state, I hear calls for better protection — not less.

I want to make it easy to vote, but tough to cheat. The 2012 numbers show we’re achieving great results in both areas.

The bottom line? Election Day registration isn’t a fix to a problem. Rather, it’s an open invitation to real problems in our elections.